News Round-Up: May 17, 2019

Ryan Worley (photo: Vinnie Cassidy)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk and Chippendale Ryan Worley (above) shares this with the caption, "When you didn't know someone was taking your photo..." I'm thinking Mr. Worley should get used to folks taking his pic a lot.

• In an interview with Fox News, Democratic White House hopeful (and openly gay) Mayor Pete Buttigieg references the current president saying, "I’m old enough to remember when Republicans talked a lot about character in the Oval Office."

• Nevada has become the fourth state to ban the use of so-called gay and trans panic defenses, following California, Rhode Island and Illinois.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) grilled Daniel O’Day, the CEO of Gilead Sciences, over the high costs of the pharmaceutical company’s pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication Truvada.

As she correctly points out, Gilead is making billions a year from Truvada, but the core research for PrEP was paid for and done by the U.S. government. Watch AOC push for a decent answer:

.@AOC to Gilead CEO: The list price [for Truvada for PrEP] is almost $2,000 in the US. Why is it $8 in Australia? pic.twitter.com/kPnMQSZE0G

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) May 16, 2019

• Following Alabama lawmakers, the Missouri House of Representatives has passed an anti-abortion bill that bans abortions after eight weeks into a pregnancy, and does not have an exception for victims of rape or incest.

• E! Online reports that Queer Eye co-stars Karamo Brown and Antoni Porowski had "an extreme amount of conflict" during the shooting of Season One of the Bravo series.

• Check out the first look trailer for the upcoming new super-hero series, Batwoman, on the CW this fall on Sundays. Australian actress Ruby Rose stars as the openly lesbian crime fighter.

Almost two millions views on YouTube in a day. But the like/dislike ratio is something to see - 87k thumbs down (homophobes) versus 36k thumbs up.

News Round-Up: January 3, 2019

Holiday weight gain I can get behind...

Some news items you might have missed:

• Anyone got that 'post-holiday bloat?' I love this artist (above) on Instagram. Goes by the moniker Silverjow and his art has so much character and humor. I'm looking to interview him soon. Check out his stuff here.

• Day one of the new Congress, Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia proudly displayed the transgender flag outside her office on Capitol Hill.

• Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was sworn in today as the first openly bisexual senator in US history. I'm totally not being sexist here, but can we get an 'amen' for her awesome swearing in outfit??? #smokin

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona sworn in. @kyrstensinema @SenatorSinema #116thCongress pic.twitter.com/70PaywDPwf

— Michael Edgecomb (@TheEdgePHX) January 3, 2019

• The CW has given the green light to a pilot for Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose as the out lesbian crimefighter.

• Comedian Kevin Hart is scheduled to appear on ELLEN this coming Monday, most probably as part of his apology tour for homophobic tweets that led to his stepping down as host for the upcoming Academy Awards.

• New York City now offers a non-binary option on birth certificates. Additionally, New Yorkers will no longer need a letter from a physician or an affidavit signed by a licensed health care provider to change their gender on their birth certificate.

• After folks questioned whether Madonna had gotten butt implants (thanks to photos from her New Year's Eve appearance at the Stonewall Inn), Madge took to Instagram to take a swipe at the rumors riffing on her hit 1985 movie: "Desperately Seeking No Ones Approval."

View this post on Instagram

Desperately Seeking No Ones Approval..................😂. And Entitled to Free Agency Over My Body Like Everyone Else!! Thank you 2019 🎉🎉🎉! Its Going to Be an amazing Year!! 🔥🔥🔥! #2019 #freedom #respect #nofear #nodiscrimination

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on Jan 3, 2019 at 1:18pm PST

News Round-Up: July 22, 2018

Dan Tai

 Some news items you might have missed:

• UK fitness guy Dan Tai (above) worked out with a broken wrist this weekend. #slacker #woof #ThatFace

• Cuba is currently in the process of re-writing its constitution, and the latest draft opens the door to same-sex marriage. Instead listing marriage as between husband and wife, the language presently only defines marriage as 'between two individuals.'

• Step aside, Batman. The CW is currently developing a new addition to the DC super-hero universe of TV shows around the character of "Batwoman," aka Kate Kane. Kane, a lesbian, would be DC's first openly LGBT character on TV.

• Also in super-news, the CW's Supergirl is making TV history having cast transgender activist and actress Nicole Maines to play TV's first transgender superhero, Nia Nal (aka Dreamer), a character described as a soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others.

• A gay couple in Indiana were turned away by an anti-gay florist when shopping for flowers for their wedding. Rita Harris of Avon Flowers was initially fine with the impending wedding date, but when she realized there wasn't a bride, she suddenly had a vacation planned and wasn't available. #liar

• New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch will not punish his players for any displays of protest during the national anthem. Tisch added that Donald Trump's interference in the issue shows “he has no understanding of why they take a knee or why they’re protesting."

• Sexy out artist Billy Winn begins his new EP, Dreamland I, with “Seal It with a Kiss,” a smooth, electro-pop track written and produced by Billy and Johnie & Elliot of the production team OneVision, about an attraction that’s so strong, words are not needed to express it.

Check out the new music video "Seal It with a Kiss" below and head over to his Soundcloud to hear the full EP.